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Eel Brook Common

Walham Green · 8.1 miles

Eel Brook Common is common land in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, close to Fulham Broadway, with its south-eastern boundary along New King's Road. According to the Fulham Society, the name actually is a derivative of 'hill brook common' - which relates to Musgrave Crescent, which is raised much higher than the surrounding land. It is believed that this is artificial and it probably was originally a Bronze Age mound - either a raised piece of ground to defend against attackers, or as a burial mound. When you leave Eel Brook Common from the north side, you go up a steep ramp - up onto Musgrave Crescent. It is within the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservation Area of Parsons Green.

Commonwealth Memorial Gates

City of Westminster · 11 miles

Situated at the Hyde Park Corner end of Constitution Hill, the Commonwealth Memorial Gates form a stone monument on the edge of the City of Westminster. The structure honours the volunteers from the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Caribbean who served Britain in both World Wars, a dedication recorded on the main inscription that mentions five million such volunteers. A shorter dedication, quoting Nigerian poet Ben Okri, reads “Our Future is Greater Than Our Past”. Two stone slabs flank the pavilion on the Green Park side, each listing the principal campaigns in which Imperial forces fought, from West Africa and Gallipoli in the First World War to Burma, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies in the Second. The memorial’s pillars are cut from Portland stone and surmounted by a bronze urn fitted with gas flames, which are ignited on occasions such as Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and Commonwealth Day. A modest domed pavilion houses a ceiling bearing the names of 74 individuals from the commemorated regions who received the George Cross or Victoria Cross, divided between the two conflicts. Planning was overseen by the Memorial Gates Trust, with Prince Charles as inaugural patron and a board that included Lord Inge and Baroness Flather. Construction began on 1 August 2001, the first stone laid by the Queen Mother, and the gates were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 6 November 2002, noted as the Golden Jubilee year of her reign. The site is a listed historic feature and can be approached from Constitution Hill, adjacent to the entrance of Hyde Park.

Flanders Fields Memorial Garden

Green Park · 11 miles

A tribute to the soldiers of the First World War stands beside the Guards Chapel and close to the statue of Harold Alexander at Wellington Barracks in central London. The memorial garden, listed as a monument on the OpenStreetMap database, lies within walking distance of Green Park and is freely accessible to the public. Designed by Belgian architect Piet Blanckaert, the layout centres on a circular grass bed that contains soil brought from Flanders, the region of many Western Front battles. The soil, gathered by schoolchildren from seventy cemeteries and battlefields, arrived in London after a naval hand-over aboard the Belgian frigate Louisa Marie and a subsequent transfer from HMS Belfast to the British Army. It was then conveyed through the city on the historic gun carriage of the King’s Troop before being placed in the garden. Native Flemish trees fringe the bed, and the surface bears an inscription of John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”. A stone bench of Flemish bluestone provides a place to reflect, while the overall design has been described by the garden’s curator, Andrew Wallis, as a blend of Belgo-Anglo craftsmanship. The site was formally opened on 6 November 2014 by King Philippe of the Belgians and Queen Elizabeth II, with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and members of the Household Division in attendance.

Mahatma Gandhi

Westminster · 11 miles

Located in Parliament Square, Westminster, the bronze figure of Mahatma Gandhi forms part of the square’s collection of public memorials. Sculpted by Philip Jackson, the work was completed and installed on 14 March 2015. The statue measures roughly 2.7 metres in height and rests on a plinth deliberately set lower than those of neighbouring monuments, a design choice made by the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust. As a memorial, it commemorates the centenary of Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa, an event regarded as the start of his campaign for independence. The commission followed an announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2014, linking the new monument to the broader UK-India friendship. Planning permission was granted by Westminster City Council later that year, and funding was assembled through public donations and sponsorships coordinated by the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, founded by Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai. At the unveiling, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the statue, while speakers included the UK Prime Minister, an Indian film actor and Gandhi’s grandson. In June 2020 the statue was defaced during protests, with the word “racist” painted on its surface. The monument remains in the publicly accessible square, reachable on foot from surrounding streets and public transport links serving Westminster.

The Green Park

Mayfair · 11 miles

The green space that lies directly north of Buckingham Palace and is bounded by Constitution Hill, Queen’s Walk and Piccadilly forms a 40-acre park within the City of Westminster. Operated by The Royal Parks and listed as a historic park, it is accessible without steps and lies a short walk from Mayfair. The nearby Green Park Underground station provides step-free access to the Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee lines, making the area reachable by public transport. The park consists mainly of mature trees on open turf, with naturalised narcissus providing the only floral planting. Three post-war monuments are set within the grounds: the Canada Memorial, the Diana of the Treetops Fountain near the tube station, and the RAF Bomber Command Memorial at a hard-scaped road apex. In 2016 an acre at the western side was designated the 90th Coronation Meadow, named The Queen’s Meadow, and was planted with seed from historic meadows; a 2017 survey recorded species such as yellow rattle and common poppy. The site contains no lakes, playgrounds or other built structures. Originally part of the Poulteney estate, the area was enclosed in the 17th century by King Charles II, who added a brick wall and an icehouse. Renamed The Green Park in 1746, it later received a landscape design by John Nash in 1820. Historical uses have included ballooning attempts, public firework displays and, in 1840, an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria on Constitution Hill. The park’s heritage listing and step-free facilities make it a straightforward destination for visitors seeking a largely unadorned green corridor in central London.

National Covid Memorial Wall

Westminster · 11 miles

A line of red hearts painted on a concrete wall runs for more than one-third of a mile along the South Bank of the River Thames, opposite the Palace of Westminster. The stretch begins near Westminster Bridge and continues to Lambeth Bridge, outside St Thomas’ Hospital, and incorporates an older plaque that commemorates the 1994-96 BSE outbreak. The work marks a public tribute to every person whose death certificate recorded COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, with each heart representing an individual. The initiative was launched in March 2021 by the campaign group Led By Donkeys in partnership with Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. Over a thousand volunteers applied red paint to roughly 150 000 hearts during a ten-day period that started on 29 March 2021, and bereaved families added names and messages. Although the original paint was not weather-resistant, a small group of volunteers later formed an unincorporated association known as the Friends of the Wall. This team has repeatedly repainted the hearts with durable masonry paint, refreshed dedications, removed graffiti and added new hearts as the national death toll rose. In June 2025 the memorial was registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and in November 2025 the House of Lords announced its status as a permanent national memorial. The wall is accessible at street level from the South Bank promenade and does not require an entry fee. It is listed in OpenStreetMap as a monument and historic feature, with Westminster identified as the nearest town. Visitors can view the hearts, read the personal messages and observe the ongoing community-led maintenance work. No dedicated facilities such as a visitor centre are mentioned, but the open-air setting allows unrestricted public viewing.